The narrator is incapable of describing what he sees with words because the truth is he doesn’t understand cathedrals: “…athedrals don’t mean anything special to me. With much attempt, the narrator is still unable to describe the cathedral, saying, “I’m just not good at it” (Carver 276). The narrator finds himself to be in a crisis because he couldn’t even begin to describe the cathedral even if his “life depended on it” (Carver 276). Upon Robert’s arrival the tension builds up to the peak when Robert asks the narrator to describe a cathedral that was shown on the TV. He claimed: “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Carver 265). The narrator is bothered by the man’s blindness and is unhappy about him staying. Right from the start, readers can sense uneasiness the narrator feels upon knowing that his wife’s blind friend, Robert, is going to stay at the house for the night. In the short story “Cathedral,” the author, Robert Carver uses tension to keep the readers glued to the story. As stated by Raymond Carver “There has to be tension, a sense that something is imminent, that certain things are in relentless motion, or else, most often, there simply won’t be a story.” These elements (“tension”, “something is imminent”) allow a reader not only to be engaged in the story but also keeps them at the edge of their seat. It is the elements of suspense and/or tension that make a story great. What is a ghost story without suspense? Or a great detective story without tension? Simply nothing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |